Hat Thief
by Mirror-of-Roses
Summary: Roman wakes up one morning and realizes his hat was taken during the night. Who took his beloved hat?
1. Meeting Neo

**Author's Note: This is a twoshot of how Neo joined Roman and Cinder's forces. I've also written another Neo and Roman story called What Friends Are For, if you want to read another one of them. **

* * *

Roman woke up in his tiny bedroom at headquarters, sitting up and feeling around for his prized bowler hat. He quickly realized it wasn't in its usual spot on the headboard of the bed.

"Where'd it go?" Roman muttered to himself, alarmed. He sprung out of bed, looking frantically for his hat and getting dressed at the same time.

When he was dressed, he threw the door open and almost hit someone's forehead.

"Wagh!" Emerald yelped, falling backwards in surprise. Mercury, who'd been walking alongside her, laughed at the girl. She glared furiously at her partner.

"This is why you don't walk so close to doors," Mercury chuckled, helping her up. He turned to Roman. "What was that about?"

"_Someone _took my hat!" Roman narrowed his eyes at the two. "It was you, wasn't it?"

"Hey, accuse the Master Thief, not me," Mercury held his hands up in surrender, taking a step back.

"Oh please. I would never need his hat," Emerald huffed, crossing her arms and looking away from him.

"We both know it's become a hobby of yours," Mercury countered with a sly smirk. "Remember when you took that one guy's keychain?"

"It interested me, unlike Roman's hat."

"Alright, neither of you took it," Roman sighed in defeat, walking away.

'If it wasn't those two, who could it be?' Roman thought, distraught. 'My head feels so bare without it...'

And so, he roamed the halls alone, his head hung in mourning over his long lost hat. He was really attached to his hat, too, he'd worn it for years, and now some person was prancing around with his beloved bowler hat on their head. When he found them, he was going to show them _exactly_ who was supposed to wear his prized possession. Roman Torchwick, that's who. Nobody else could wear it like him, nobody!

While he was moping around, he bumped into somebody. Roman looked up, but found nobody there. They could have easily hidden behind the crate across from him, but he had no idea why they would hide from him.

"Come out, whoever you are," Roman looked over the crate to find a familiar bowler hat _on someone's head. _They looked up, two differently-coloured eyes meeting Roman's. The ginger jumped in surprise. 'Why is one of her eyes brown and the other pink?!'

The girl stood up and backed away a bit, revealing her other features. Roman now saw that she only wore a dirty black knee-length skirt and a light pink tank top with a smudge or two on it, no footwear. She also had brown hair on the left side of her head and pink hair with white streaks on the other, his bowler hat covering some of her slightly matted hair.

"Who are you?" Roman asked slowly.

"Neo," the girl, Neo, said bluntly.

"Well, Neo, I won't hurt you," Roman spoke carefully. "But that's my hat. Could you give it back?"

"It's getting cold..." Neo spoke so softly Roman could barely hear her.

"Eh? Do you mean..." Roman hesitated before finishing his sentence. "You live on the streets?" Neo nodded slowly.

"We can take you in, you know," Roman blinked at her as her face brightened.

"Really?!" Neo gasped, grinning as she took a few steps closer before stopping in her tracks. "We?"

"Er, yeah," Roman nodded. "There're other people living here, like my boss."

She didn't respond.

"I could... take you to her if you want," Roman offered. "... If you give back my hat."

"R-right, sorry," Neo walked up to him, taking the hat off her head and handing it back to him. Roman placed the hat back on his head and smiled a little. Seeing this made Neo smile too. "Where's your boss?"

"I'll take you to her later," Roman shrugged, wanting to put off seeing Cinder until later.

"Roman," a sultry voice called smoothly. Roman tensed in response, eyes closing in dread.

"Yeah...?" Roman called back weakly.

"Who is your friend over here?" Cinder appeared just behind Roman, seeming to breathe down his neck.

"Who, her?" Roman laughed nervously, turning so he faced both of the girls. "She's Neo. She took my hat and, uh..."

"This little one?" Cinder leaned down to look Neo in the eye, causing her to draw back in fear. She raised a brow at the shorter girl, intrigued. She turned to Roman. "She will be useful to us. The girl can stay." The woman walked away.

* * *

Neo had on her business-like clothing she chose herself. She was walking around with Roman, who seemed to be warming up to her.

"Is this Neo?" Emerald and Mercury approached them.

"She's so cute and tiny," Emerald pinched Neo's cheek, a tiny smile on her face. "Cinder told us about you!"

"I'm not a doll," Neo whined.

"I like you already," Mercury smirked.

"Shouldn't you two be off somewhere else?" Roman asked snarkily.

"We just wanted to see Neo," Mercury shrugged. "Might as well know who we work with, right?"

"Yeah, sure, now go," Roman shooed them away.

"Don't you like them?" Neo asked Roman.

"... Meh," Roman shrugged. "You're alright, though." He took off his hat and put it on her head. "You can even wear this for the evening."

"Thanks!" Neo smiled.


	2. The Art of Theft

Neo had been living with Roman and the others for a few months. During that time, one could notice how much she changed from her first day. She spoke a little more and walked around like a fashionista with her umbrella open and her confident smile.

Her strutting came to a stop, her smile dropping when she realized she had nothing to do. She'd already sparred with Mercury and had done the laundry so she was out of productive things to do.

"Hey, Neo."

Neo turned around, as the voice came from behind her. "Emerald?"

"Yeah, it's me," Emerald smiled slightly at her. Neo had always reminded her of a doll for some reason. Whether it was her adorable appearance, her height or both, it made her smile.

"Are you bored too?" Neo asked.

"Yeah, they never let us do anything around here," Emerald sighed, unhappy with that fact. "Why don't we do something together? You know, like friendly bonding."

_Friendly bonding? _Neo thought, puzzled.

"'Friendly bonding'?" Neo voiced her thoughts in confusion. "What about Mercury?"

"I want to have more friends than just Mercury," Emerald shrugged. "What do you say?"

"... Sure. What're we doing?" Neo asked.

"Hmm..." Emerald put her finger to her chin in thought. "Well, I could teach you the art of theft."

"What?!"

"You heard me," Emerald smirked a little. "We won't go all out, don't worry. Even I can't rob a bank yet. We'll start small."

"... What do you mean?" Neo asked, apprehensive.

"Like Roman's hat or something."

Neo gulped. _Not again!_ She thought. She'd already taken Roman's hat before and was scared out of her mind when he saw her. She was lucky, but what would happen to her if it happened again?

"..."

"Okay, I'll take that as a yes. Let's go," Emerald took her arm and lead her away to wherever Roman was.

The two found Roman napping on a lone chair in the wide hallway. His head was tilted back, his hat resting over his eyes. They hid behind a nearby crate, watching him intently.

"Alright. What you have to do," Emerald advised in a low whisper, "is slowly move toward your victim. When you're close enough, not too close to them, quickly snatch the prize and dash away. Got it?"

"Um... Got it," Neo nodded. She stepped over the crate and creeped toward the snoozing Roman as quietly as her heels would allow. When she was close, but not too close, her hand reached out and took the hat off his face. Neo quickly took a few steps away before Roman's eyes snapped open and looked straight at her. Emerald's eyes widened a bit in surprise, while Neo's were the size of dinner plates.

"What are you doing with my hat?" Roman asked groggily.

"Run! Run!" Emerald exclaimed, shooting up from her spot behind the crate, waving her arms around.

Neo ran away and hightailed it out of there with Emerald, Roman following close behind.

"Not again!" Roman exclaimed as he ran, annoyed.

The girls made a sharp turn onto the metal staircase leading up to the second floor. The floor itself wasn't much, just a platform that wrapped around the walls nearly at the top of the building.

Emerald and Neo opened a window and jumped out of it. Roman saw this just as he made it to the top of the stairs.

"Where'd they-?" Roman dashed to the window and looked out of it.

Neo had opened her umbrella, Emerald clutching her leg tightly as they drifted away on the breeze. Neo smiled devilishly at Roman while Emerald stuck her tongue out at him, earning themselves a hate-filled glare.

"Dammit, Emerald!" Roman shouted at them, shaking his fist.

* * *

Mercury was strolling along a street whistling a tune when he looked up and saw a peculiar sight. It looked vaguely like Emerald and Neo floating in the sky using an umbrella.

"What the heck?" Mercury mumbled, narrowing his eyes suspiciously. "Is she trying to teach Neo theft?"

Mercury had gone through that same thing before, only with Cinder's earrings, for fun, of course. They were caught as he casually took them off the table and the two had run out of the building and to the other side of town by the time Cinder stopped chasing them and let it go. Now Emerald had taken Neo under her wing and now they were drifting to the beach, which wasn't good at all.

He ran in their direction, jumped up and fired his greaves, sending him soaring in the air toward Neo's umbrella. When he reached it, he tried to land on it but ended up grabbing the peg on the top of the umbrella with both hands, unknowingly steering them toward the beach. His body turned and slid down a little, making him able to look Neo in the face.

"Hello," Mercury said casually, looking at the girls.

"Mercury? What are you doing here?" Emerald asked, looking up at him.

"I should be asking you that," Mercury raised a brow. "And why are you wearing Roman's hat?"

"Uh..."

"Teaching Neo the 'art of theft'?"

"How did you know that?!" Emerald demanded with a small glare.

"How could I not remember?" Mercury chuckled.

"Stop laughing!"

"Guys, where are we going?" Neo asked slowly, trying to see past Mercury's face.

"Last I checked we were going to the beach," Mercury said.

A sudden gust of wind got caught in the umbrella and carried them further away. Emerald looked down.

"All I see is water." That sentence alone was enough to frighten them.

"How can we get back now?!" Emerald panicked, squeezing Neo's leg.

"All this for a hat," Neo grumbled.

"At least we're not too far from land," Mercury said, looking on the bright side.

"Can you use your greaves or something?" Neo questioned.

"..."

"So, is that a no?"

"That's a no."

They were sinking quickly, as if they were being pulled by chains. There was no breeze to save them.

"Let go," Neo said to Mercury.

"Huh?!"

"Let go and grab my leg," Neo commanded. "I have an idea."

Mercury let go of her umbrella and grabbed her leg, as instructed, causing them to sway a bit.

"Can you tell us what your idea is?" Emerald asked impatiently.

Neo didn't respond to her, simply turning the umbrella upside down, directly below them, bracing for impact. Emerald threw her free hand on the hat to keep it from falling off.

The umbrella hit the water's surface roughly, creating a large splash before bobbing on top of the water. The three fell into the weapon, causing it to bob violently.

"Um..." Emerald looked at the shore, which was a bit far away, as the umbrella stabilized, adjusting the hat on her head. "How do we get to shore?"

"Greaves?" Neo looked at Mercury expectantly.

"Greaves." Mercury dipped his feet into the water. "Hold on!" He fired his greaves, making them shoot forward. He fired repeatedly while the girls clung to eachother for dear life, screaming at the top of their lungs.

It's not everyday you get to ride an umbrella across the water, you know.

They hit the shore, sending them flying and hitting the ground, the umbrella behind them. Emerald looked up from where she lay on her stomach, eyes brightening like the sun that shone above.

"Cinder!" Emerald exclaimed happily, scrambling to her feet and going for a hug. She got her much-wanted hug, but didn't get a hug back, to her dismay.

"I hear you and Neo took Roman's hat-" Cinder said as Emerald let go, taking the hat off said thief's head and tossing it to Roman, who was behind the woman.

"Yes!" Roman cheered, putting the hat on his head.

"-And jumped out of a window," Cinder continued suspiciously, looking at Mercury. "Where do you fit into this?"

"I got them back," Mercury said smugly. "If it weren't for me, they'd be bobbing out in the ocean on their way to Atlas."

"You shouldn't have been so reckless," Cinder retorted. "Get back to the warehouse."

The three followed Cinder and Roman back to headquarters, their heads hung in shame and Mercury's ego slightly deflated.

* * *

Neo was shaking the wet sand off her umbrella before she went to sleep when there was a knock on her door.

"Come in."

The door opened and the clicking of heels entered the room. Neo turned around.

"Sorry about today," Emerald looked down apologetically, kicking her feet at the floor.

"It's fine," Neo accepted her apology with a little smile, closing her now sand-free umbrella.

"... Am I still your friend?"

"Yes, you are."

* * *

**Author's Note: That's it! It's complete! Hope you liked this short story!**


End file.
